Smoke and Mirrors
by TeamJareau26
Summary: When the team is called on a case in the middle of the night, they are shocked to find that the Unsubs are managing to take four young, strong women each night. And as the team gets closer to catching them, they become much closer to the case than they ever thought possible when the Unsubs turn their attention on JJ This Is my First FanFic! Any feedback is MUCH appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

I had stared at the same place on my desk for so long that I was starting to go cross-eyed. I always stayed latest considering that I had the most paper work to fill out after each case. Morgan had gone home a little more than an hour ago, and I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my coat and headed for the door, sending Will a text saying _on my way_. I hated being away from them so much and I was looking forward to having a few days off. Knowing Will, I figured that Henry would be awake and waiting for me to get home. God I missed them. We talked every night, but being able to see them beat that any night. Being with them helped to drive away the darkness that we surrounded ourselves in each day at work.

Before I was even in the door, Henry had himself wrapped around my leg.

"Hey!" I said, grinning. I picked him up and gave Will a hug. "It's past your bed time. Why are you awake?" I asked, setting him down and ruffling his hair.

"Daddy said I could stay up and wait for you!" He crossed his arms in a way that looked defensive and I laughed. He looked just like me.

"Well now that mom's home, it's time to get ready for bed." Said Will, steering him in the direction of the stairs.

"I'll be up in a minute." I told him when he looked at me expectantly. When he was up stairs, I gave Will a long kiss. "You're teaching our son to be a rebel."

Will smiled and pulled me closer. "I'll take the responsibility."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I was pulled out of my amazing dream by the shrill ringing of my phone. I groaned and rolled over, putting the pillow over my head and trying to block it out. Almost as soon as the ringing stopped, it had started again.

"Just don't answer it." Will said very unhelpfully.

"Ugh." I rolled over and reached over Will to grab it just as it started ringing a third time. I didn't even look at the caller id before snapping, "Agent Jareau," into the phone.

"Agent Jareau, it's Chief Strauss. I need you and your team to come in to the BAU as soon as possible."

"But Ma'am it's," I glanced at the clock, "three in the morning."

"Believe me; I wouldn't be calling unless it was extremely important."

But the thing that was bugging me most was the level of alertness in her voice, like she had been up for hours before this. And in my sleepy state, it didn't occur to me how sarcastic and disrespectful I sounded when I said, "Do you ever sleep?"

To my amazement and relief, she sounded amused. "Not during hours of crisis Agent Jareau. Call your team and get here as soon as possible."

"You have to go don't you?" Asked Will after I hung up.

I felt guilty. This was my first day back home, and I hated that I had no say in whether I went in or not. "Yea. I'm sorry Will. I don't want to leave, trust me, but Strauss said that it was an emergency and that-"

He cut me off. "I don't care JJ. I just want to know when you'll be able to stay for more than a night before you get whisked away again. You know as well as I do that we won't be able to do this forever. What am I going to tell Henry?" His voice broke my heart.

I hesitated, not wanting to go, even though I was already throwing on clothes and getting my go-bag ready."Tell him mommy's off fighting bad guys." I gave him a kiss. "I really am sorry Will."

"Just come back to us in one piece."


	2. Chapter 2

When I arrived at the BAU, it didn't surprise me that Hotch, Reid and I were the only ones there. When I had called Morgan, he hadn't exactly sounded happy, although I can't blame him. I'm pretty certain that Rossi fell asleep while I was talking to him, and it had taken four calls before Garcia answered, picking up with, "I am a member of the FBI, if you don't stop calling me, I will have my team track you down and smash your phone into a hundred tiny, irreparable pieces!" When she realized that it was me, she hadn't reacted that much better. "Jayje, it's not even four in the morning. Is it really that important?" Prentiss didn't even answer, and since her house was on my way, I decided to just swing by. I had to knock several times, and when she finally did answer, she had her gun in her hand.

When we entered the conference room, Strauss was setting folders around the table, and setting up the screen with several images. "Where is the rest of your team?" She basically yelled at me.

"They're on their way."

She sighed. "We don't have time to wait. You can debrief them on the plane." Several images popped up on the board. It was pictures of four women, pretty, with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and all appearing to be around the same age. "Veronica Mars, Suzanne Brooks, Mary Larman, and Kate Jackson, all disappeared last night from the same mall in Denver. They were there together and just leaving the mall when they were attacked." Strauss pulled up a video on the screen. It was the video camera of the parking lot. Four girls walked out, and appeared to laughing and joking with each other. A van pulled up in front of them, and four men sprang out, all carrying something long and heavy looking. They each took a girl, hitting her and dragging her into the van.

"They specifically chose to attack them here. They wanted the video camera to record what happened." Said Reid, his brow furrowing in thought. "The question is why."

That was when we got our answer. The Unsubs turned to the camera, one after the other, very purposefully looking dead into the lens. I caught my breath. The first thing I noticed were the names written across each forehead. "Emily", "Derek", "Aaron", and "Jennifer". Secondary to that fact, they had no facial features. Each one was pale white, and other than close cropped black hair, they had no distinguishing features. They had noses, and mouths that appeared to be sewn shut, but no eyes.

"The names are no coincidence. They wanted the BAU on the case." Said Hotch

"Denver is expecting you before rush hour I want regular updates on how the case is going. Do I make myself clear Agent Hotchner? "

"Yes Ma'am." Said Hotch, as we picked up our go bags and headed to the door.

We almost ran into Morgan and Rossi who were rounding the corner just as we were. Morgan gave me a puzzled look, and I said, "We'll brief you on the plane," as they fell into step behind us. Prentiss was just getting off the elevator, and when she saw us, she pressed the button that would take us to the jet strip and held the door for us.

Hotch briefed the team as soon as we got on the plane, and I paid special attention to Prentiss and Morgan when they saw their names. Other than a brief moment of surprise.

"They obviously wanted us on the case." Said Prentiss. "But did they choose those four names specifically, or were they just the most continent?"

"Well if we're talking convenience, David is a lot faster to write than Jennifer." Piped in Rossi. "They chose your names specifically. Maybe their fans who like the four of you better than the rest of us."

Prentiss shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Fans of ours become agents not killers."

"Unless their drawing us into their sexual fantasy." Morgan suggested.

"I think if that's the case, than they would have come to us directly. Sent a letter or video to us and just cut out the middle man. What about enemies? Family and friends of people that we've put away or killed."

Hotch spoke up for the first time. "JJ, call Garcia, get her to look into it."

I nodded and pulled out my phone. Garcia answered almost immediately. "Thank god you called. I thought you woke me up at four o'clock just so that I could fall asleep at my desk. What can I do you for?"

"I need you to look into cases that Morgan, Prentiss, Hotch, or I were instrumental in bringing down the Unsub. Focus on cases in the past year."

I heard furious clicking. "I will send you a list when I get it. Garcia out."

"We should get some sleep." Said Hotch. "We aren't going to be any help if we can't keep our eyes open."

Most of the team didn't have to be told twice. I sat next to Reid who was furiously scribbling don notes. He had a strange look on his face, one that appeared almost sad. "Reid. What's wrong?"

He stopped writing and looked up at me. "Your name was on his face. You're in danger. They're going to come after you." And then a look of fierce determination crossed his face. "And I won't let them." His protectiveness made me smile, even though his word were heavy. "I know what it's like to be tortured, and Hankle wasn't even looking for me. I just got in his way and he almost killed me. These Unsubs are scouting you out, looking for you."

"I'm not the only one Spence. Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss all have their names on a face. And we don't even know if their looking for us. The names could just be a way to ensure that we got the case. And even if they are hunting for us, I know how to protect myself. I'm not reckless."

He nodded, but didn't look completely convinced. "Just do something for me. Promise you'll be careful and take extra precautions. Don't do anything stupid or try to be the hero. Alright JJ? Just promise me."

"I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

After my talk with Reid, I somehow managed to fall asleep and didn't wake up until we landed. When we exited the plane, the lead detective on the case was waiting for us, and he looked flustered.

"We found a body." Was the first thing he said to us and my heart sank. "Kate Jackson. Two early morning joggers basically tripped over her body. We positively identified her no more than ten minutes ago"

"No attempt to hide the body?" Asked Prentiss.

The Detective shook his head. "None. It was placed in plain sight, directly in the middle of the jogging path. The ME puts the time of death at around five thirty."

"Have you notified the family?" I asked. I highly doubted it, considering how recently the body was found.

"No. I was waiting for you to get here. I haven't actually ever notified a family before." He sounded shy, almost embarrassed. "I'm Detective Newman, by the way." He said as he shook hands with each one of us.

"I'm SSA Hotchner; these are SSA's Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi, Jareau, and Doctor Reid." Hotch was usually the one to introduce us. "JJ, will you go with Detective Newman to notify Kate's Family. Prentiss, go to the Larman Home, Morgan, the Mars, and Rossi go interview the Brooks. Reid and I will go to the station to set up. "

I nodded and followed him to the car. I loved my job, but I always hated notifying families. It was always so sad, looking at the pictures on the mantle, and seeing a happy family torn apart.

Detective Newman pulled me out of my dark thoughts as we bounced along the road. "So, Agent, do you have any plans for your first night in Denver? There's a really good bar in town that we could-"

"Stop." I said before he could invite me on a date. "First of all I'm married. Second, I do have plans tonight; catching the guys that are killing girls in your town."

He looked surprised, but didn't say anything else. I had always despised Detectives that put their own personal lives or career success before the case. Before I had taken the classes to become a Profiler, I had dealt with a lot of them. Reporters were often the same way, wanting the story more than the killer. Now it was Hotch's problem, but I would still call people out on it.

When we arrived at the Jackson house, it was six fifteen. I took the lead, knocking on the door. I wasn't at all surprised when it didn't take more than thirty seconds for Mr. Jackson to open the door. His wife was behind them. Their faces showed a mix of hope, and fear.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jackson?" I asked, like I didn't already know.

"That's us." Said Mrs. Jackson.

"I'm Agent Jareau, this is Detective Newman. May we come in?" I asked. They nodded, and we walked in. They sat down on a couch, and we sat across from them in dining room chairs that they had pulled out. "Your daughter was found this morning."

"Is she alright?" they asked, almost in unison.

My stomach fell seeing the joy on their faces. "She was found dead."

"W-what?" Stuttered Mr. Jackson. "That, that can't be."

"We are very sorry for your loss."

I waited a few moments before asking, "Do you mind if we look in your daughter's room?"

They shook their heads, and we walked up the stairs too Kate's room. The walls were plastered with posters and pictures of her and her friends, all smiling and looking happy. Her computer didn't have a password on it, and nothing seemed out of place. I leaned down and pulled a large box out from under her bed, looking for anything that clashed with the happy scenes on the walls. The box was filled with more pictures and school momentous, that she wanted to keep, just not openly display. I went through the box and nothing really jumped, so I placed the box back under the bed, and continued searching.

"There aren't going to be any clues here are there?" Asked Mr. Jackson, who was now standing in the doorway. "These guys took her from the mall, not here."

"I'm not looking for physical evidence. My team and I study behavior, and other things like victimology; why this particular victim at this particular place at this particular time." I picked up a certificate that hanging on the wall. It was from a martial arts studio, saying that she was classified for her black belt in Karate. I turned to Mr. Jackson. "Your daughter had a black belt?"

He nodded. "That was why we originally thought that there was some mistake. She could take down men that were twice her size, easily." Seeing my interest, he asked, "Does that give you some idea of who the man that did this is?"

I nodded. "It definitely changes things." Then I handed him my card. "If you think of anything in addition to what you told the police last night, please give me a call.

He stared at the card for a moment before murmuring, "Thank you Agent Jareau." Then he walked silently into his daughter's room and walked around slowly.

I gestured downstairs and Detective Newman and I walked down quickly, not wanting to impose on his private moment. Mrs. Jackson still hadn't moved from the couch, so we showed ourselves out. My brain was spinning a million miles an hour as we headed back to the police station. She could have been targeted because of her abilities, but became a hassle when she started fighting for her friends. It was equally likely that they had no idea she could fight.

When we returned to the station, Hotch and Reid were the only ones there. Reid looked up from the papers that he was looking at when we walked in, and seemed very relieved that I was alive and well. Hotch was putting the final touches on the murder boards that he had set up.

"Did you find out anything that could be useful?" Asked Reid.

"Very." I sat down beside him and tried to figure out what he was reading. "Kate had a black belt in Karate. Her dad said that she could easily take down grown men." I hesitated, thinking. "She wouldn't have gone down without a fight."

Without turning around Hotch said, "So these Unsubs are confident. They knew they could overpower her. But what was there reasoning behind it."

"You think they targeted her specifically?" Detective Newman was pacing and sounded agitated. "They could have just waited for her."

"No," Said Hotch rifling through some papers. "This was premeditated. They knew these girls were going to be at the mall last night, and they waited for them to leave. This wasn't a crime of opportunity." Then he turned to me. "JJ, when Prentiss gets back, I want you to go the morgue, see what the coroner found."

"Oh, and JJ, take a look at this." Said Reid as he pushed the stack of papers that he was reading towards me. "It's a list of family and friends of Unsubs that we've caught who Garcia thought looked like good suspects."

I flipped through it, looking for cases that I had worked done a lot of work on. Nothing caught my attention, and I gave it back to Reid just as Prentiss came in.

"Hotch said we were going to the morgue together." I said and stood, walking to the door with her.

We shared our findings with each other on the drive. Nothing had come from the Larman home, and she reacted about the same as Hotch after learning about her fighting skills. Then, she totally caught me off guard.

"Are you worried about us?" I was too stunned to reply for a moment, and so she continued. "I'm surprised that nothing like this has happened yet anyway. We put ourselves in harm's way every day that we come to work and yet, Reid's the only one who's been kidnapped. Well, I have, but I don't count Doyle."

"Will's more worried about me than I am." I laughed. "Reid is too. He made me promise him I'd be extra careful, like I can't protect myself."

Emily pulled into a parking spot and turned the car off. "He just cares about you. Better than him not giving a damn."

I didn't say anything else as we walked into the morgue. We only had to flash our badges to get in, and the corner was waiting for us. Kate's body was stretched out on the table, a pure white sheet covering her body.

"Agents?" She asked, and we nodded.

"What can you tell us?" Asked Prentiss, grabbing us each a pair of gloves.

"Cause of death is a .44 to the neck." She pulled down the sheet enough to reveal her face. "They used Chloroform to knock her out, and she had pain killers in her stomach that were taken after she was kidnapped. She was badly beaten, her jaw was broken in three places, and it appears that she had a concussion. Three fractured ribs, and her arm had a spiral fracture." She lifted her wrist to reveal deep ligature marks, and broken fingers. "My guess is that she was hung by handcuffs or some other metal restraint, and that she punched someone so hard, that it broke three of her fingers."

"Any signs of sexual assault?"

"Yes, although I think she was unconscious when it happened." The coroner paused, then turned and grabbed a slip of paper off the table behind her. "I found this in her shirt."

The note was small, with typed letters covering the entire surface. It read;

_I hope you can catch us soon, or we promise this will happen again. She fought to save them, and look what it got her; a bullet in the throat. We will see you soon Agents. Maybe we can have the same fun with you as we did with them._

Before I had even finished processed what I had read or what the symbols at the bottom could mean, my phone rang. It was Hotch.

I answered slowly. "Hey Hotch. What's up?"

"Another girl was taken."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, sorry it's taken me so long to update. My life has been kind of hectic lately, and to be fully honest, I just haven't been motivated to write. I will try to do better and post WAY more often, but I can't make any promises. Feed back is MUCH appreciated!  
**

**On a completely unrelated note, how do you guys like Jennifer Love Hewitt in the new season?**

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Emily and I rode to the new crime scene in an awkward silence. We were both taking in what the note had said, and trying to figure out a way to keep ourselves and the team safe. _She fought to save them_. So we were right. She had fought to protect her friends, and they had killed her for it. But I didn't think that it was a coincidence that they had taken someone who they knew could fight. I just had to find something to back up the feeling in my gut.

When we arrived at the scene, we had to park at the very edge of the lot there were so many news vans and onlookers. Prentiss and I moved our jackets so that they hid our guns, and tried to look as un-agent like as possible. If at all possible, we didn't want to have to deal with people we didn't have to. We pushed through the crowd muttering things about imaginary sisters we were worried about and casually dropping hints about how much we hated the media. Apparently we did a good job because when we reached the crime scene tape and tried to duck under, the officer on duty stopped us.

"Sorry ladies, no one's allowed to come in here." We pulled out our badges, and he looked embarrassed, muttering, "Sorry ladies," again.

Behind us, I heard a very angry news reporter yelling at her camera crews about how they had missed two agents who might have given them information. I smiled in spite of myself.

Hotch was waiting for us at the only evidence marker in the area.

"Doesn't look like much of a crime scene." Said Prentiss, gesturing to the marker. "What's even here?"

"Tread marks from a boot. I'm not thinking we'll have much luck with it though."

"How did we find out so fast?" I asked him. "Was there a witness?"

He nodded and gestured to a young woman who was talking to Rossi. "And there was a camera that caught it all. He wore the mask again."

"Which Unsub was it?" I asked.

"I haven't seen the footage yet. I was waiting for you to get here."

Prentiss and I followed him into the empty mall and turned into a small room that was plastered with screens. There was a security guard sitting in the chair, and he appeared to be waiting for us. When we were ready, he pressed a button and the footage popped up on a large screen.

The woman who had been abducted was talking on her phone when she walked out. She looked flustered, and hung up, just as the same car from the night before pulled up, she looked surprised for a moment, and that was when he grabbed her. There was only one man and he seemed to have a small problem keeping the rag on her mouth and controlling her thrashing. After several moments, she stopped struggling, and he hauled her into the car. He looked dead into the camera just like they had the night before, the word _Aaron_ across his forhead, the face still featureless. Then he pulled something out of his pocket. In the blurry, low quality video, all we could see was that it was white and that he leaned down and put it in the large flower pot that most malls had out front.

"Did we recover that?" Prentiss asked.

"No." Answered Hotch, turning and leaving, almost running outside.

"Fast forward." I ordered the guard leaning in.

We watched our witness calling the police and the first responders showing up and closing off the area. It wasn't until the first news van arrived that I told him to play in in live time. From behind the mall came a reporter, sneaky enough to avoid being seen by the officer guarding the scene. She managed to slip under the tape, and grab the note and was almost out before the officer saw her. It looked like he was chastising her for entering the crime scene and then gave her a warning. He didn't even realize she had the note.

"Send that to our analyst in Quantico." Snapped Prentiss, taking her anger out on the guard.

"Already done." He said, and had the good sense not to say anything about how badly we had screwed up.

I whipped out my phone and walked out of the small room dialing Garcia.

"You have reached the office of supreme genius. What unknowable information can I provide you with today?"

"Garcia, do you have the video of the new abduction?"

I heard a click. "Yes, but I haven't watched it yet. Trying to put off the icky for as long as possible. What do you need me to do with it?"

"Skip over the abduction. I want the face of the reporter who got under the tape and I want to know who they are ASAP."

She started typing furiously. "Her face will be sent to your tablets momentarily, but the facial recognition will take a little longer."

"Thanks Garcia." I hung up before she could say anything else.

Hotch stormed in, looking angry enough to be an Unsub. "It's not there. Damned reporters, so interested in getting their story that they don't care if it might cost a girl her life." He took a deep breath and continued in a more controlled voice said, "Let's go back to the station. We'll have more luck repairing this from a place that we have control in."

The three of us walked out signaling to the rest of the team that it was time to head out. When we started cutting through the crowd again, I thought Prentiss was going to punch the first reporter who started asking questions. We made it to our cars without saying anything, and drove to the station in an infuriated silence. We hadn't been in the car very long when the picture of the reporter appeared on my tablet. Not long after, Garcia called.

"Hey, so you know how I said that the facial recognition was going to take a while? Well, it turns out that if you're on TV all the time, it makes the wait much shorter. Her name is Jackie Findley. She's on the major local channel that everyone in this town watches."

I nodded at Prentiss to tell her we had the reporter. "Work address Garcia?"

"Aww, Jajye, I thought you knew me better that that. Hit your GPS before we started talking."

"Thanks Garcia. Will you call the rest of the team and tell them that's where we're heading."

"No problem. Garcia out."

When we arrived at the news station, Prentiss and I hashed out a quick plan. We didn't want them blowing a gasket or closing us out when they figured out that we were FBI, so we just weren't going to tell them. We were going to say that we wanted to talk to Ms. Findley because we had news on the kidnapping. We figured that there was no way that she would be able to turn the offer down.

The man at the front desk hadn't batted an eye when we asked where Ms. Findley was. He just grumbled "Third floor." And went back to the game he was playing on his phone. It was when we reached the third floor that we reached resistance. The woman sitting at the desk looked at us like we were the biggest idiots in the world when we asked to see the reporter.

"She's on the air right now."

I leaned against the desk and tried to look as enthusiastic as possible. "We have news about the kidnapping that happened this afternoon."

This gave the woman at the desk pause. After a moment's thought, she signaled for a guard to come over. "Take them into the newsroom and let them sit in there until the next commercial break." The guard nodded and led us through a door into the large newsroom. He was very careful to make sure that the door didn't make any noise when it closed. Jackie Findley was sitting at the large desk in the front of the room with another man, and they were finishing up a story about the rising rate of stray animals in the area.

"Now," She said, "we have some breaking news about a kidnapping that happened this afternoon." Prentiss and I tensed. This was a live newscast, and if she started talking about things that she shouldn't be, then we were going to have to stop her. "An unidentified woman was kidnapped from a mall in downtown Denver no more than two hours ago. An inside source has provided us with a document that the kidnapper left at the scene. It is encrypted, and we do not know yet what it says. We are issuing a two thousand dollar reward to anyone who can crack the following message." She moved to hold up a piece of paper, and we knew that that was our signal.

Prentiss and I moved in unison, pulling out badges out and showing them to the guard as we basically ran forward. "Stop!" I yelled, stepping in front of the camera. "Stop filming!" The camera man turned the camera towards me. "Now!" I ordered, reaching for my gun. That made him stop. He pressed a button and put his hands in the air. The television that allowed the anchormen to see themselves stopped showing anything.

"No one move!" Ordered Prentiss. She tossed me the pair of handcuffs that she carried and turned the camera towards the door in case it was still filming. Several security guards were running in, and Prentiss was yelling, "FBI! Stay back!"

Jackie had stood up, and had her hands in the air like any normal person. "Jackie Findley, you are under arrest for obstruction of justice and Federal theft." I grabbed her arm and yanked it behind her back, expecting a little bit of resistance. What I had not expected was an elbow to the face.


	5. Chapter 5

**One again, I am very sorry for the wait. I was in Wisconsin last week, and Denver the week before, and didn't have access to a computer. Please review!**

**How many of you guys watch Castle? Just wondering.**

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I recoiled in surprise and pain. Jackie had taken off running, one of our handcuffs still around her wrist. It took me a moment to orient myself and run after her. She had blasted through the door at the back of the set, and I heard her clamoring down a set of stairs. "Freeze!" I yelled, following her at full speed. She was already almost on the ground when I reached the stairs, and I knew that if I didn't hustle, I could lose her. When she hit the ground, instead of turning down an alley, she ran down the nearest major street where I still had full view of her. I was charging after her and my best guess was that she either wasn't trying to dodge me, but rather just outrun me, or that she wasn't very smart, because she had multiple opportunities where she could have turned down a side street and lost me, but she didn't.

She hit a major intersection, and there were a lot of people walking down the street. "FBI! Out of the way!" I shouted, after nearly running into several people that Jackie had pushed in her mad escape. For a moment, it felt like I was back in college playing soccer, complete with blood that was streaming down my face.

She finally had the common sense to turn down a less crowded street. I was catching up to her, and I could tell that she was getting winded. I was no more than three feet behind her when she stopped abruptly. Maybe she thought that it would cause me to run past her. That was not how it worked. I tried to stop, or at least slow down but I didn't have enough warning. I slammed into her, completing a tackle that would have made Morgan proud. We flew several feet before hitting the ground, her smaller figure catching almost all of my weight. In the nearby intersection, I heard a car honk loudly. I rolled off of her, and heard her sob in pain.

"JJ!" Someone yelled from behind us, and I looked up to see Prentiss jumping out of the car and running down the street towards us. The first thing she did was finish handcuffing a still sobbing Jackie, and helped me to my feet. "Are you alright?" She asked looking me over.

I gestured to Jackie. "She got it a lot worse than I did. I landed on her."

"I think you broke my ribs!" She screamed.

"You'll live."

We loaded her into the car, and Prentiss handed me a box of Kleenex when we started driving. My nose was bleeding pretty badly and my hands were scraped up from our fall.

The car ride didn't take long, since I had chased her in the relative direction of the station. Jackie had stopped crying for the drive, but as soon as we arrived, she promptly started sobbing again. Since our chase had taken place at a news station, there were already lots of reporters waiting for us. Hotch managed to distract most of them, and I kept my face turned away from the other cameras. Prentiss took Jackie to an interrogation room while I headed for the bathroom.

"Hey, JJ wait!" Called Reid trotting to catch up with me. I had been hoping to avoid the team until I was cleaned up, but I wasn't going to be that lucky. When he saw my face, I thought he might have a cow. "Oh my God! What happened to you? We need to get you to the hospital!"

"Spence, I'm fine. It's just a bloody nose."

"That looks way more serious than just a bloody nose!" Again he asked, "What happened?"

"I bet that you could call 9news, and that they would have footage of it." I grumbled, and turned towards the kitchen.

Morgan was coming out with a cup of coffee. "Hey pretty boy what's-" When he saw my face he stopped. "Oh."

I pushed past him to the sink and started cleaning up my face. It was tender to the touch, but I was fairly certain that it wasn't broken. Even if it was, I wasn't going to admit it to the team. I would have a good bruise for the next few days though.

"What happened to you?" Asked Morgan, leaning up against the counter next to me.

"The reporter that stole the note decided that she might have been able to outrun me and elbowed me in the face."

"What about your hands?"

"I completed a beautiful tackle that I didn't know that I was going to make."

"I wish I could have seen it!" He laughed

"Morgan!" Cried Reid. "It's not funny!"

I ignored Reid. "I bet if you asked Garcia real nicely that she would be able to find some traffic cam footage."

"I don't even think that you would have to call her." Said Detective Newman who had appeared in the doorway. Seeing the questions on our faces, he lead us into the bull pen. Several officers were gathered around a TV watching a breaking news story that was showing some low tech footage. It was me, chasing Jackie through the streets and completing the tackle.

Prentiss came out of the interrogation room, handed something in an evidence bag to Reid and joined us. "Ugh." I rubbed my hair through my hair in exasperation.

"JJ, Emily, come here." Hotch said from behind us." We glanced at each other and followed him into the office that we had set up our base in. "Good job catching her."

"You aren't mad about the whole news thing?"

He shook his head. "I'm not happy about it, but it was out of our control. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Hotch." I assured him. "It's just a bloody nose."

He nodded. "I'm glad. If you're up to it, would you and Prentiss interview her? I think she took it as a publicity stunt, but we have to make sure that she doesn't know the Unsub."

"We did get the note back right?" I asked Prentiss.

"It was sitting on the table. She didn't even run with it."

Hotch went to talk to a couple of officer that had questions and Prentiss and I went to interview Jackie.

She was rubbing her side and hands, trying to look as in pain as she could. Before we could say anything, she said, "I'm not saying a word until my lawyer arrives." She rubbed her side again for effect, and then added, "And I'm suing for excessive force."

We went a few rounds with her, to no avail. She held true on her statement of not talking, and we had to try a different approach.

"Do you know the man who did this?" I asked. She didn't answer. "Because only someone who knew the man that was doing this would have known where the note was."

Prentiss picked up where I had left off. "Since you're so interested in the story, I'll tell you what he did to them." Jackie looked excited. Prentiss pulled out a picture of Kate Jackson from the morning's crime scene. "She fought, and he beat her, then raped her." She added venom into her next words. "And she didn't even do anything to him."

"He left that note at the crimes scene so that the police would find it. If he wanted you to have it, he would have sent it to you. If he did this to Kate, for fighting back, imagine what he would do to you for ruining his plans." She thought about this for a moment. "Maybe we'll let you out of here and tell the media that you took the note from the scene. See what happens." Now she looked scared.

She was about to say something, but her lawyer stopped her. "Do not say another word."

Prentiss and I shrugged, and slowly packed up the case file, making sure to show her the pictures of the injuries that Kate had suffered. We walked out and into the viewing room where Morgan and Rossi were watching.

"What do you think?" I asked them.

"She looked too scared to have known the Unsub." Said Rossi.

Morgan's phone rang, and he answered it and put it on speaker phone.

"Talk to me Baby Girl."

"All hail the mistress of technology because I have cracked the code."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Once again, sorry for the wait. This is a shorter chapter, and not very action packed. I am going to try to make the next couple of chapters more exciting. **

**On another note, wasn't Henry adorable in last week's episode? JJ's the best.**

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The code had apparently been very easy to crack, considering that it took Garcia less than fifteen minutes to do it. All that the killers had done was type their note into the computer, and use the bookmarks fount to make it encoded. It required almost no technology skills. It said,

_I guess that Denver's finest wasn't good enough to stop us on their own. Not that the fancy, high powered FBI will be able to do better, but maybe they could put on a slightly better show than the Detectives on the case. Good luck Aaron."_

Hotch came in behind us and read the translated note. He didn't say much just absorbed and thought.

"Let's get the profile ready." He said finally.

We spent almost an hour coming up with the profile, bouncing ideas off of each other. We were almost ready when Garcia called us.

"Yea Garcia?"

"I put the video of the first kidnapping through a program that will give us approximately how tall our Unsubs are."

"That will help narrow our suspect pool down." Said Reid. "Did you run the heights against our original pool of suspects?"

"I'm doing that right now, but it's going to be kind of a wild goose chase. They're all pretty average heights. I'll keep you updated."

"Let's go give the profile."

We walked into the bullpen of the station, where the officers were gathered, waiting for the profile. The quiet roar died down when we entered the room.

Hotch started. "We are looking for a pack of violent, physically fit Unsubs. They target white women in their late teens to early twenties, so they are most likely white men in their early twenties."

Morgan jumped in. "Do not be surprised to find that the leader of the group is older and more experienced. They are extremely organized and they know how to abduct, rape, kill, and dump a body without leaving any evidence behind. An Unsub this organized is almost guaranteed to have other experience. He may be Military or law enforcement."

An officer in the crowd spoke up. "You're saying that the leader is one of us?"

I shook my head. "We aren't saying that at all. We are just saying that it is possible."

"It's more likely that this guy is ex law enforcement. Someone this violent would most likely not have been able to hide his true nature." Morgan continued. "He may have been fired or dishonorably discharged for assault or excessive force charges."

Prentiss pointed to the pictures of on the board. "Kate Jackson fought back, and we think this is probably why she was the first one killed."

"They may have stalked their victims first. The same Unsub that abducted Kate was also the same one that abducted the woman today." I said. "They need four victims at a time, for whatever reason, and it's extremely important to their ritual."

Reid spoke up for the first time. "Usually, when groups write letters to the police, only one person writes. This is a rare exception. The note that was left on Kate's body is a threat, directed at our team, while the note that was left at the last crime scene was written more like a taunt. The first author seems pleased that the FBI has joined the case, while the second author is taunting us. They are two very different personalities, so at least two of our Unsubs are educated."

"They are also going to be a very tight knit group," Added Rossi, "So we probably won't have much luck driving a wedge between them."

"Let's get this profile out to the media. The more the public knows, the more they can be prepared."

Several officers stood up and went back to their desks. A voice stopped us from doing the same.

"Wait, Agent Hotchner!" When he was sure he had our attention, he asked his question. "Aren't the names of your team the same ones that they have painted on their faces?"

Hotch nodded curtly. "Yes. Why?"

The officer shrugged. "Do you know why?"

"Not yet, but it is not going to get in the way of our investigation." He gave a political answer that didn't leave room for any more questions on the topic.

It wasn't even eleven thirty yet, and we already had a body and another abduction. The profile was out, but in the back of my mind I wondered if it was going to be enough to stop them. The question that had been spinning in my mind all day was pressing down on me.

_What do they want with us?_

* * *

**What do you think the Unsubs want with Hotch, Prentiss, Morgan, and JJ? **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey Guys! I was bored this weekend, so I sat down and cranked out a chapter! As I said, this chapter is more action packed, and once again, I would love for you to review. I hope that I will have another chaper out by Wednesday, but it depends on how much English homework I have. Have a good week!**

**Now for my random question:**

**Do you guys have any other FanFic stories to request? If you need one to keep you busy while you're waiting for my slow butt to post again, I would recommend Preponderance by HCBalwayshappy, and Broken by syfygeek1 . They are what got me to start writing FanFic in the first place!  
**

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We spent the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon sifting through the stacks of suspects that Garcia had sent us. Even with all six of us working, we were barely half way done when Detective Newman came in at half past six to tell us that Jackie Findley wanted to talk.

"She said that she would only talk to Agent Jareau and Agent Prentiss. Whenever one of my boys goes in there to try and talk to her, her lawyer stonewalls us." He didn't sound very happy about the last part.

Prentiss and I shrugged and got up, happy to be doing something other than reading. When we entered the interrogation room, her head snapped up and she almost looked relived to see us. We sat down across from her. She signaled for her lawyer to leave the room.

"You said you would only talk to us. We're here, so talk." Prentiss said curtly. She was hesitant and instinctively looked to her lawyer for advice. "If you aren't going to say anything, then you're wasting our time." We stood up to leave.

"Wait!" She sounded almost panicked. "I'll talk, I just don't know how to tell you without looking like the bad guy."

"You are going to be a bad guy anyway if you don't talk, so I'd take your chances with us." I said.

She nodded, and we sat down again. It all came pouring out of her mouth the minute we were seated with our pens ready to write.

"About twenty minutes before the woman was abducted, I got a call on my personal cell phone. It was a man, and he said that if I wanted a story that would make me famous, that I needed to go to the mall, duck under the police tap and get a note from the plant by the door. He told me that I had to say that the police gave it to me and not tell anyone how I actually got it."

"Did he say why you couldn't tell anyone?" I asked her.

"He said that his friend would get mad."

Prentiss and I glanced at each other. This could possibly form a wedge in the group.

"I'll be right back." I said, and walked out if the interrogation room and back to talk to the team.

"What did she say?" Hotch asked, looking up. I told him what she said. "That's a way for us to split them up."

I nodded. "So what do we do about it?" I asked. "She's obviously terrified of him."

The team considered it for a moment. "We could have her publicly announce it, and then keep her in protective custody." Suggested Reid.

"I think that's our best chance of drawing one of them out." Said Rossi. "Tell her that if she agrees to do it then we'll drop the charges."

I quickly wrote out the deal and went back into the interrogation room. She and Prentiss were talking quietly about something that must not have been very important because the conversation ceased instantly when I walked in.

She had barely read the deal before she was shaking her head fiercely. "No. He'll find me and he'll do to me what he did to that girl you showed me earlier."

"No he won't. We'll have an officer on guard 24/7 at your apartment until we catch them." Then I added softly, "You might save someone's life."

She thought about it for a long time. "Fine." She agreed finally.

"Thank you." Said Prentiss, and we both stood and went back to the team.

"What did she say?" Asked Reid.

"She agreed to do it."

"Good." Said Hotch, pulling his phone out of us pocket and calling someone.

"Agent Jareau." Detective Newman said, opening the door slightly. "There is a call for you on line three. It's from a Detective LaMontagne, says he needs to talk to you.

_That's weird_, I thought. Normally Will would have called my cell before calling the station. I must have accidentally put it on silent. I reached for the land line that was in the center of the case files.

"Hey Will. Sorry, I must have put my phone on silent." I said when the connection tone sounded in my ear.

The voice that responded was most definitely not Will's. "What, no hello? You have to defend yourself first?"

I tensed and immediately reached for my cell. "Who is this?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly.

Reid and Prentiss were looking at me with matching puzzled expressions.

"What, you don't recognize the voice of a killer when you hear one? I thought you would have been doing this job long enough to at least be to do that _Jennifer_." The way he said my name sent chills running up my spine. By this point, the entire team was looking at me, except Hotch, who was still on the phone.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

The man laughed. "Wow, you really are blond aren't you. I wonder how fast DC police could get to your house if they found out it was an FBI agent's. How much blood would be covering the walls before they got there." The voice laughed again, and the line went dead.

I slammed the phone down and called Garcia.

"What can I do for my favorite-"

I cut her off. I could feel the panic rising in my chest. "Garcia, send the local police to my house. Don't ask questions, just do it please." Even in my own head, I almost sounded hysterical.

"Consider them there. Jayje, what's going on?"

"I think the Unsub's going for my family."

"I'll call you as soon as I hear something."

Garcia hung up, and I sat there, in a haze of fear and anger.

Prentiss shook me gently. "JJ, what's wrong? Why do you think they're going after Will and Henry?"

I could barely get the words out. "He said," My voice caught and I cleared my throat. "He said that he wondered how fast the DC police could get to my house, and how much blood there would be when they got there."

The team was stunned into silence for a moment. Then Morgan stood and ran to the door, looking for something in the bullpen. He came back a few moments later with a sheet of paper in his hand. "What's his number?" He asked me.

"Um," I had to think about it. The terror was numbing my brain. "202-413-1926. Why?" Morgan put his hands on his head and didn't answer my question. "Why Morgan?"

"That's the same number that the call came from."

I chocked on a sob, and the room fell completely silent. What could this psychopath possibly want from my family? And why did he come after me first? The time it took for Garcia to call back was excruciatingly long. The phone hadn't even completed a full ring when I answered it.

"Are they okay?"

"They're fine." Garcia sounded like she might have been crying. "Will said his phone went missing at some point this morning, and that he had been looking for it. I'll patch you through to him if you want me to."

"Yes please." My voice was almost a whisper. I felt like sobbing in relief.

There was a moment of quiet, and then a soft, heavily accented voice. "JJ? Is everything alright?"

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. "It is now. Is henry there with you?"

"Yea he's right here. You wanna' talk to him?"

I nodded, and then remembered he couldn't see me and added, "Yes."

There was a small scuffle on the other end of the line. "Hi Mommy!"

The team was looking at me expectantly, and I nodded at them to let them know that they were okay. Morgan slumped back in his chair, and Reid sighed in relief. "Hey Henry."

"Are you okay Mommy?" Even at four, he could pick up subtle clues in my voice that said something was wrong.

"Everything is fine honey. Mommy just had something scary happen at work."

"Oh. Okay." He was very quickly unconcerned.

"Hey, will you give the phone back to Daddy. I'll talk to you tonight okay buddy?"

He sounded slightly sad. "Love you Mommy!"

There was another sound of scuffling, and Will spoke again. "You sure you're alright?"

I thought for a moment. "Yea. I just needed to make sure you were safe." I'll talk to you tonight okay?"

"Alright. Love you JJ."

"Love you too."

In the back ground, there was a muffled "I love you three!"

I hung up and answered the team's questions before they asked them. "They're both fine, maybe a little spooked from the police suddenly pulling up at their door, but fine. Will lost his phone this morning at work. The Unsub must have taken it from him there."

"Well," Said Hotch who must have been filled in by Morgan while I was on the phone, "Why don't you head to the Hotel and get us our rooms. It might help you calm down and clear your head."

I nodded, and slumped back into my chair. The spur of the moment adrenaline was gone, and I was suddenly tired. "I think that's a good idea."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Sorry I was late this week. I was with my family for thanksgiving, and I'm just now getting to it. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!**

**What is your favorite movie that involves an actor from Criminal Minds?**

* * *

When I arrived at the hotel and asked them for their open rooms, they said that they only had three rooms. I called Hotch to ask him and he said to go ahead and gets the rooms. We would double up, and after the incident with Will, I wouldn't mind having a little extra protection. I started hauling the luggage up to our rooms, pairing Hotch and Rossi, Morgan and Reid, and Prentiss and I together. Even though we were all ready to travel on a moment's notice, but that didn't mean we packed lightly. We had nine bags, and they were all heavy. We could solve the case in a day, or it could take us two weeks, so we were ready for anything.

I had balanced almost all of the bags on top of one of the small luggage carts that they had wen I hit a dent in the floor and it toppled over. I groaned and started stacking it again. Someone knelt beside me and started helping. When we had it all rebalanced, he wordlessly started helping me up to our room.

"Thanks." I told him when he managed to catch the cart when we hit another lip in the floor.

"Don't mention it." He answered, then recognition crossed his face. "Hey, are you the FBI Agent that arrested that famous news caster lady?"

I was surprised that he was the first person to recognize me. "That's me."

He smiled. "The tackle you used to take her down was beautiful."

I laughed. "Thanks. So do you work here, or do you just stop and help people with their luggage for fun."

He smiled again. "I work here. I'm the manager. It's my job to help people just like it is yours."

When we got on the elevator, I got my first good look at him. He was in his twenties, with short dark brown hair and average colored green eyes. He wasn't very muscular or tall, and he almost reminded me of a picture Will had showed me from his junior year. He looked like the kind of kid that would have been made fun of in school for being a nerd.

We didn't talk anymore until we reached my room. "Well thanks again." I told him as I opened the door

"No Problem. Do you need anything else?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." I would make Morgan get the rest of the bags when they got to the hotel.

"Well, I'm sure we'll see each other again. It was nice meeting you Agent Jareau."

He walked downstairs and I figured out which bags were whose, and took them to the appropriate rooms. When I had that done, I milled absently around my room trying to figure out what to do. I called Will and said goodnight to Henry, then told him about the scare with the Unsub.

"Well JJ, I can promise you that we're both okay. I just wish that I didn't have to call you from our landline. I'll keep you updated, and I'll keep my gun close just in case."

There were times when I was glad that Will was a police officer too. Anyone else would have just reassured me that there was nothing to worry about and would have told me that I was over reacting. Will knew what I went through first hand, and he would be ready for anything. After he had been shot and kidnapped, we had both vowed to be more careful and keep each other in the loop as much as possible. And it was nice to know that he could shoot with accuracy.

I hung up with him just as my phone chimed with a text from Morgan.

_What room are we in?_

_ 129, 154 and 137_, Then I remembered that there were still bags in the car and added, _And there are two bags in the car that I wasn't able to get._

Prentiss came in a few minutes later, tailed by Reid and Rossi, all of them carrying bags of take out. Morgan and Hotch came in shortly and we all squeezed around the small table to eat. We watched the news, waiting for Jackie to go on the air and say the words that they had provided for her after I had left the station. It was the breaking story on the eight o'clock news.

She managed to look put together, which was amazing since I knew how scarred she was of giving the conference. She was in an interview with her partner.

"Well, Jackie, after that craziness with the FBI knocking on our door, what can you tell us about that note? Have the police cracked it yet?"

She shook her head. "Not that I know of. They weren't really forth coming with information."

He smiled at her sympathetically. "Can you tell us how you got the note?"

She nodded, and a bit of her nerves showed. "I got a call at around eight fifteen from a man saying that if I wanted a story that would make my career, that I need to get the note. He gave me directions on how to find it. I snuck under the police tape and I got it, then brought it to the station."

"So the police didn't give it to you?" Asked her partner, sounding skeptical.

"No Thomas I did not."

The rest of the interview was menial, but she had managed to say exactly what we wanted her to. With any luck, it wouldn't look o forced to our Unsubs and we could draw them out of hiding.

After that, the team dispersed, heading to their own rooms to get a good night's sleep. Reid hadn't been very happy that I hadn't paired the two of us together, and Morgan made a joke about what a cute couple the two of us would make. Prentiss and I talked about the case a bit before we decided that we were tired and ready for bed.

I drifted in and out of sleep, unable to get the case off of my head. When I finally did get to sleep, it wasn't for very long. I woke up when something hit me in the back. While it wasn't very hard it was enough to jar me out of the thin vail of sleep.

"Ugggh," I groaned, assuming that it was Prentiss. When I rolled over, I found myself staring into the barrel of a gun.


End file.
